Clay Patrick McBride test drives the Broncolor Para 88

Clay Patrick McBride is a modern rocker photographer if there ever was one. His clients include superstars like Jay Z, Jack White and Kanye West. For McBride, photography all started when he was still a teenager, finding an old camera under glass in a pawnshop. “When I felt the weight of the cold steel in my in my hand, I knew it was what I wanted to do. It was like that dusty SLR spoke to me. Then I went to photo school at SVA in early the 90s. It was a great time in music. I was heavily influenced by the sounds.” Eventually he met Eddie Adams, “he opened my mind to telling stories through pictures. I met him a few years before he passed away and teaching at his workshop has been a great source of inspiration. I teach lighting also, so I am constantly in the studio with my students experimenting and discovering. These kids are a curious bunch and always asking a ton of questions, ‘How’d they light this?’ keeps me on my toes… At the end of the day, it’s all trial and error. Error being a huge word. I think when we fail we learn the most. We fall forward.”

Recently McBride took his talents to the Green Point neighborhood in Brooklyn, where he photographed Johnny Ford hanging out by the water on an El Camino using a a pair of Broncolor Para 88s.

The Broncolor Para 88 was perfect for Guerilla shoot. It folds down very small and sets up quickly. Four handles lock out and keep the system open then the focusing system slides in and locks in place. Then you toss it onto a stand. That whole process takes less than a minute. There are adapters for several popular lights and the adapters connect the Para 88 via a pin. Focusing is simple with the slider on the back and the light’s highlight ring is as close to the outer edge as possible, from the subject’s perspective. The para 88 also has diffusers that hook in place, ten stop, half stop and full stop.

Tom Kray is a writer, gentleman adventurer, and the resident zombie expert (wherever he happens to be residing at the time). He believes in the oxford comma. He believes that terrible decisions make great stories and he could tell you a bit about both. He’s headstrong and a little daft but has a good heart and bounces when he hits the ground, which is fortunate as he does tend to trip over his own feet a lot. He has a history of applying percussive maintenance with moderate success. You can follow Tom Kray on twitter @tomkray. He also has a website www.the-fas.com